■ JAPAN
Kurd granted residency
The government said yesterday it was giving residency to a Turkish Kurd, his Filipina wife and their daughter in a rare move by a country that accepts few refugees or immigrants. The justice ministry agreed to grant the family residency rights for one year after judges rejected their plea against deportation but urged out-of-court negotiations. "Due to humanitarian considerations, we will begin procedures to issue special residency status," Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama told reporters. "The status is for one year for now, but they can extend it." The family -- a 32-year-old Kurdish man of Turkish nationality, his 41-year-old wife and their seven-year-old daughter, were ordered deported in 2004. Their names were not released. The man said he feared "persecution" in Turkey because he skipped mandatory military service.
■ NORTH KOREA
Dear Leader donates honey
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has donated several tonnes of wild honey as part of his "profound loving care" for patients at the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, state media said yesterday. The recent gift of honey and hundreds of kilograms of rare honey tonics are the latest in a series of such donations totaling more than 100 tonnes since the hospital opened, the Korean Central News Agency said.
■ CHINA
Pandas "sexercise"
Notoriously sex-shy pandas are being put through a rigorous "sexercise" program in a new effort to encourage them to mate, state media reported yesterday. The Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center in Sichuan Province is making male pandas walk on their two legs to strengthen their pelvic and hip muscles, to better prepare them for sex, the China Daily said. The move is achieved by luring pandas up with an apple, the report said.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Military limits bathing
Soldiers have been asked to cut down on communal baths and training schedules as part of a government drive to save energy, officials said yesterday. The directive aimed at reducing the military's fuel usage came at an emergency meeting of senior army, navy and air force officials last week, the defense ministry said in Seoul. The military aims to save about 77 billion won (US$78 million), or 11 percent of its annual fuel bill. "From April 1 officers are asked to go to communal bathhouses at their bases twice a week, not three times," a ministry spokesman said. "Enlisted soldiers can shower anytime but they are told to take a [communal] bath once a week as stipulated in our regulations," he said.
■ UNITED STATES
Hawaii volcano spurts lava
Small splatters of molten lava have been ejected from Halemaumau Crater for the first time since 1982. Officials with the US Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory say some of the particles -- the largest of which measure 10cm across -- have landed on the rim of the crater. Geologists have discovered thin strands of volcanic glass known as "Pele's hair" along with small bits of volcanic glass known as "Pele's tears" in the crater overlook area.
■ UNITED STATES
Whalers refuse plea deal
Five men charged with killing a gray whale off Washington State rejected a plea deal on Monday. The Makah Tribe members believed they were acting within their rights when they harpooned and shot the whale on Sept. 8 in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, defense attorney Jack Fiander said. They still planned to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act. As expected at their hearing on Monday, prosecutors agreed not to recommend jail time but surprised the men when they said the government was interested in seeking to prevent them from whaling while on probation. The hunters said they would rather take their chances at trial.
■ UNITED STATES
Pilot's gun discharges
A gun belonging to the pilot of a US Airways plane went off as the aircraft was on approach to land in North Carolina over the weekend, the first time a weapon issued under a federal program to arm pilots was fired, authorities said. The "accidental discharge" on Saturday aboard Flight 1536 from Denver, Colorado, to Charlotte did not endanger the aircraft or the 124 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants aboard, Greg Alter of the Federal Air Marshal Service said. The federal Transportation Security Administration is investigating how the gun discharged, Alter said. Officials did not say what the bullet hit.
■ UNITED STATES
Court charges TB carrier
An man with a virulent form of tuberculosis (TB) who was once confined to a hospital jail ward for failing to wear a mask in public has been indicted on felony charges in Arizona. Prosecutors said on Monday there was no evidence Robert Daniels had exposed anyone to his multiple drug-resistant TB before he was quarantined in 2006, but they still charged him with two counts of unlawful introduction of disease or parasite. Daniels, who has US and Russian citizenship, has been living in Russia since October. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Russian authorities did not know Daniels' whereabouts but were looking for him. "If he does come here, he'll be arrested on these criminal violations," he said.
■ UNITED STATES
`Diddy' settles punch-up suit
Sean "Diddy" Combs has settled a lawsuit brought by a man who claims the rapper and fashion mogul punched him after a post-Oscar party outside a Hollywood hotel. The terms of the deal were not disclosed in court papers posted on Monday on the celebrity Web site TMZ.com. The lawsuit by Gerard Rechnitzer claimed that Combs punched him, pushed his girlfriend and spat on another woman on Feb. 25 last year outside Teddy's Nightclub at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. In a court declaration, Combs said Rechnitzer lunged toward him and that "any contact ... was caused by his forward motion against my open hand.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
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